Oil painting, 'Peasant Woman of Brittany', Edward Hughes, 1861

Bequeathed by Joshua Dixon

Bequeathed by Joshua Dixon, 1886

Historical significance: Edward Hughes (1832-1908) was a London genre and portrait painter. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1847 and 1884.

Paintings of peasant subjects were popular in the later 19th century with an urban audience nostalgic for a largely fictional rural idyll. Peasant Woman of Brittany (1861) is a generalised representation of a pretty young woman rather than a portrait of an individual. The embossed cross on the cover of the book she holds shows it to be a Bible, which adds a moral dimension to the composition - this young woman's beauty is matched by her virtue.

Although this painting was not exhibited at the Royal Academy, the following year, 1862, Hughes exhibited a painting entitled An English artist collecting costumes in Brittany.

This painting was bequeathed to the V&A by Joshua Dixon (1811-1885), a successful cotton merchant. In addition to oil paintings, watercolours and drawings, his collection also included engravings, Japanese vases and panels, and bronze and marble sculpture. Born in Dalston, north-east London, Dixon died on his estate of Winslade Park in Somerset and left his collection initially to the Bethnal Green Museum, which is part of the V&A, for the 'benefit of the people of East London.'

1016-1886